Hypocrite? Alec Baldwin will play a journalist in an episode of Law & Order: SVU airing March 19; despite his rants against the media

Media-loathing Alec Baldwin accepted the role of a journalist in an episode of the hit series, Law & Order: SVU.

The actor, 55, who just days ago ranted in New York magazine about how much he
hates the media, portrays a newspaper columnist on the show which airs on NBC; the network that hosted his hit show 30 Rock and has felt the rough end of the Baldwin tongue frequently.

Baldwin will play Jimmy McArthur, 'who questions the SVU squad’s
motives' during the investigation hate crime-rape investigation, according to NBC.

Criminal Stories will be shown on March 19; directed by the series' star Mariska
Hargitay.

The brunette remarked upon Baldwin’s 'fierce
commitment.'

Baldwin's MSNBC chat show was axed in November after
he allegedly called a photographer outside his Manhattan home 'a
c**ks*king f*g' , though he insists he called him a 'c*ks*ker.'

In
New York magazine, Baldwin said former MSNBC colleague Joe
Scarborough 'neither eloquent nor funny' and described host Rachel Maddow
as 'a phony who doesn’t have the same passion for the truth off-camera
that she seems to have on the air.'

He
also laid into CNN’s Anderson Cooper as 'the self-appointed Jack Valenti
of gay media culture,' name-checking the late head of the Motion Picture
Association of America.

'I give up': Melodramatic Alec laments his A-list life as he
predicts he will 'probably' have to leave New York due to media scrutiny but oddly suggests a move to L.A; America's showbiz media hub

Revealing: The interview also detail the former 30 Rock star's
feud with fellow actor Shia LaBeouf and the dispute with MSNBC that
ended his short-lived Up Late talk show

In the same interview, Mr Baldwin also claims Shia LaBeouf verbally attacked him while making Orphans, leading to their bust-up.

The
star and Mr LaBeouf were engulfed in a feud after clashing while
making the Broadway play partly because he claims the Transformers actor
'began to sulk' because Mr Baldwin didn't learn his lines ahead of
rehearsals.

He said: 'One day he attacked me in front of
everyone. He said, “You’re slowing me down, and you don’t know your
lines. And if you don’t say your lines, I’m just going to keep saying my
lines.”

'We all sat,
frozen. I snorted a bit, and, turning to him in front of the whole cast,
I asked, “If I don’t say my words fast enough, you’re going to just say
your next line?” I said. “You realise the lines are written in a
certain order?” He just glared at me.'

Mr Baldwin claims he asked for a break to cut short the incident and went to speak
to the stage manager with director Dan Sullivan and offered to quit the
project and insisted they didn't fire Mr Labeouf.

But
the actor recalls Mr LaBeouf, who he had heard was 'potentially very
difficult to work with', was 'shocked' when he was given his marching
orders from the show.

Love-hate
relationship: The volatile star has long lamented the intrusion into
his private life and several homophobic rants have notably affected his
career, with his short-lived Up Late talk show cancelled in November
following an anti-gay slur at a photographer

Getting to it: While Alec claims he wants to move he seemed quite happy to be in New York with his wife Hilaria on Wednesday

Elsewhere in the article, which features an accompanying close-up of Mr Baldwin as he
stares into the camera with a neutral,if
a little sour, expression on his face, the Oscar-nominee discusses his
feelings about MSNBC, on which he had short-lived talk show Up Late.

The programme was pulled off air for good in November after five episodes
following what was initially a two-week suspension.

While the official word was that the two
parted ways mutually, sources say the star's 'diva-like behaviour
towards co-workers', along with the homophobic comment, played a
deciding factor in the decision.

But
in his New York magazine chat, he insists he 'never wanted' to be on
MSNBC in the first place and describes it as 'the same s**t all day
long' as well as slamming several stars of the channel including talk
show host Joe Scarborough.

Leading the way: The star made a bee line for his car as Hilaria was a few steps behind

All bundled up: The mother-of-one looked to be in a relaxed mood on the outing

Speaking about the channel, he said: 'Morning Joe was boring. Scarborough is neither eloquent nor funny. And merely cranky doesn’t always work well in the morning. Mika B. is the Margaret Dumont of cable news. I liked Chris Jansing a lot. Very straightforward. I like Lawrence O’Donnell, but he’s too smart to be doing that show. Rachel Maddow is Rachel Maddow, the ultimate wonk/dweeb who got a show, polished it, made it her own. She’s talented. The problem with everybody on MSNBC is none of them are funny, although that doesn’t prevent them from trying to be.'

However, Ms Maddow - who he described as 'phony who doesn't have the same passion for truth off-camera that she seems to have on air - seems to have dismissed his claims, highlighting that they have never even met.

She tweeted: 'I have never met Mr. Baldwin, either on-camera or off-camera. I wish him all the best.'

Around the same time the Up Late talk
show was pulled, Baldwin lamented the invasion of privacy he and his
family faces on a daily basis, ranting in an open letter on the Huffington Post that he was willing to give it all up to protect his loved ones.

'If
quitting the television business, the movie business, the theater, any
component of entertainment, is necessary in order to bring safety and
peace to my family, then that is an easy choice,' he wrote.

'This country’s obsession with the private lives of famous people is tragic.'

'It is an easy choice': In November, the former 30 Rock actor said it was a no-brainer that he would give up his career for the sake of protecting his family - pictured here with wife Hilaria Baldwin and six-month-old daughter Carmen in Madrid earlier this month